The Center continues its tradition of innovative puppet presentations with Blind Summit Theatre in The Table.

Intended to be a theatrical interpretation of the story of Moses — in real time — The Table is performed by a grizzled, crotchety old man. But the grumpy puppet narrator strays far from the planned storyline and winds up playing out his own comedic, existential crisis as the puppeteers improvise and interact with each other and the audience.

The show is done in the Bunraku style, with multiple puppeteers visible to the audience, and is performed completely on the table top. Blind Summit’s puppeteers breathe poignant life into their characters and using humor and improvisation, show us something of ourselves in the cardboard, wood and fabric creations onstage.

This performance is supported, in part, by the Henson Endowment for Performing Arts.

Blind Summit most recently appeared at the Center in the 2007–2008 season with its production Low Life.

Review by the Chicago Sun-Times

No doubt about it: Blind Summit Theatre’s “The Table” is one of the more astonishing 70 minutes of theater, puppetry, whimsy, mischief, eye-hand-brain coordination and total brilliance to be exported from London in recent years.

Review by the Chicago Tribune

“The Table,” which is a really terrific show, is not to be missed by two distinct groups. One is the puppetry crowd…The other group…is the crowd that likes upscale British comedy of the Eddie Izzard or Ricky Gervais or, gulp!, Russell Brand type. This is very much in that wheelhouse.

Review by the Chicago Tribune

Preview by The Gazette

“It’s sort of a debate between reason and belief. The fact that the puppet knows everything about how he works and what he is doesn’t stop us from believing in him and believing that he’s somehow more than a puppet,” [said Blind Summit's artistic director Mark Down].

Review by The Diamondback

The performance’s beauty lay in the power of the cast working in fluid harmony through their improvisations to keep Moses alive. When one puppeteer moved a body part, the others would react instantly, as if Moses were an appendage instead of a controlled object.